Lisa Chambers (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

This matter has been ongoing for quite some time and I raised it, with other Deputies, as a topical issue matter a few weeks ago. Since then the story has developed and, as Deputy Micheál Martin said in response to the investigation of the Irish Examiner, it has revealed quite a horror story within the Air Corps. Last week there were details of text messages between the Chief Whip, Deputy Regina Doherty, and a whistleblower who had warned the Government of Air Corps staff exposure to cancer-causing chemicals while working at Casement Aerodrome, Baldonnel. She undertook to contact the Minister for Defence about the matter. In January 2015 she passed a message on to the whistleblower indicating that the then Minister, Deputy Simon Coveney, would call the next day. This is contrary to his claim that he was unaware of such an appeal. Major inconsistencies have emerged in the Government's account of how it has managed the warnings it has received over concerns over Air Corps technicians' health. None of the three whistleblowers has been contacted by Deputy Coveney or the current Minister for Defence since they made their disclosures more than a year ago. Can I assume this is still the case?

Has the Minister made contact with the whistleblowers concerned? We are already seeing a lot of turmoil about the treatment of whistleblowers in another arm of the State. Have we learned nothing? Has the Minister met with the whistleblowers? If not, why not?

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